British troops were called into action on Saturday to help deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza, as Foreign Secretary David Cameron warned that Palestinians trapped there were at risk of starvation. Navy.
With the UK and US governments under intense pressure to end arms sales to Israel, Downing Street said on Saturday that ministers instead stepped up support for plans for a new maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza. He announced that he would send “lifesaving aid” to Israel from the sea. A population in dire need of basic food supplies.
Lord Cameron announced the emergency deployment of a Royal Navy ship and £9.7 million in aid, saying: “The situation in Gaza is dire and the prospect of starvation is real. We will continue to do our best to deliver the same.”
Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said the naval vessel was en route to the eastern Mediterranean.
As part of the operation, first announced by Joe Biden at the end of Ramadan last month, the US, UK, EU and other partners will set up a new temporary jetty off the coast of Gaza, from which aid will be delivered directly to the blockaded area. be able to send. There is also no risk of being sent back at the border. The shipment will be inspected by Israeli authorities in Larnaca before departure.
The move follows a wave of international outrage over the Israeli army’s killing last week of seven aid workers, three of them British, employed by the charity World Central Kitchen (WCK). The WCK had just dispatched a second ship and tugboat carrying 400 million tons of food. Following a successful pilot last month, aid equivalent to one million meals was provided to Gaza.
The organization and several other agencies have since ceased operations in the Palestinian territories, further increasing the risk of starvation for its 2.3 million inhabitants.
WCK’s deliveries were offloaded at a temporary pier near downtown Derialburgh built from rubble by volunteers but separate from a U.S.-led temporary floating pier project, authorities said. It is hoped that the pier will be fully operational by 2020. Early May.
The announcement of increased aid is unlikely to dampen calls for the British and American governments to halt arms supplies to Israel. Many legal experts believe the UK is violating international humanitarian law in prosecuting the war against Hamas. The war has killed at least 33,000 Palestinians, most of them women and Palestinians, according to the Islamist-controlled region’s health ministry. The kids. The real figure is likely to be even higher, as many bodies are still trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
of guardian Last week, it was reported that Israeli military officials had authorized the killing of scores of Palestinian civilians in unguided “stupid” bomb attacks that targeted even low-level militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. . Sources said it was an AI-driven system. Often there was a risk of “accidentally attacking”.
White House National Security Press Secretary John Kirby and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said they were investigating the report.
Israel has been turned into a brutal enemy bent on destroying the state after Hamas killed more than 1,100 people, mostly civilians, and took at least 250 hostages in a cross-border attack on October 7 last year. He claimed that he was waging a war of self-defense. To Gaza.
Israel denies blocking aid, saying the shortages are the result of logistical failures by humanitarian groups and diversion of supplies by Hamas.
last week, observer Alicia Kearns, Conservative MP and chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said Foreign Office lawyers had concluded that Israel was in breach of international law and as a result the UK must halt arms sales. Reported. This was not denied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy will outline on Sunday how Labor plans to use Parliament to pressure the Government to publish legal recommendations. Mr Lammy said the UK government should “make a clear commitment to complying with international law in this conflict, including compliance with licensing standards governing arms sales, and call on Israel to take interim measures before the ICJ”. There is,” he said. [international court of justice]The full text of the January judgment is binding. ”
Marking six months since the Hamas attack, Rishi Sunak strengthened his stance on Israel, saying that while Britain supports the right of nations to defend themselves, he said: “The whole of Britain is shocked by the bloodshed and is deeply saddened by the brave British people.” “I am appalled by the killing.” Heroes delivering food to people in need. ”
Mr Sunak added: “This terrible conflict must end. The hostages must be freed. Children in Gaza need an immediate humanitarian moratorium that leads to a long-term and sustainable ceasefire.”
This comment was in stark contrast to statements he made a week after October 7, when he expressed unconditional and permanent support for Israel and did not even mention the innocent Palestinians caught up in the conflict. .
The maritime corridor plan will take weeks to implement, and there is a risk that relief supplies will arrive too little, too late. Aid experts have hailed the plan as a step in the right direction, but the plan, along with airdrops introduced after more than 100 people were killed at an aid distribution center in February, remains a serious threat to Gaza. He said that it is less effective than delivery as a means of delivering aid to people. By land.
The number of aid trucks entering the region over the past five months has fallen far below the 500 per day that entered before the war, and getting aid to where it’s needed most is hampered by damaged roads, fuel shortages and disasters. It is becoming more difficult. What aid agencies have described as a breakdown in security, unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles imposed by Israel, and a failure by the Israeli military to ensure safe passage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Biden last week that Israel would reopen a key land crossing into the Gaza Strip, allow more aid through another crossing, and respond to killings by aid workers that threaten the United States in the future. In response to the warning, Israel said it intended to open ports in Israel to assist with deliveries. Support for Israel depends on whether Israel can take concrete actions to protect civilians and humanitarian workers.
The Israeli Cabinet’s decision followed a press conference with foreign ministry officials who warned that Israel would be at risk of sanctions and arms embargoes if aid was not increased.
The US also strongly criticized Israel’s plans for a ground operation in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where 1 million people have been evacuated, particularly because of Israel’s “unrealistic plan” to evacuate civilians before an attack. He made it clear that he was against it.
At the end of November, 100 Israelis were freed in a week-long ceasefire in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons, but a second longer ceasefire and the remaining hostages were subsequently released. Negotiations aimed at liberation have repeatedly stalled.
